Russia’s Sane Thoughts on Copyright and Internet

There’s been a lot of talk on copyright and Internet regulation at the G8 summit in France.

This led to a statement titled “Renewed Commitment for Freedom and Democracy,” where several suggestions on the topic are written down.

While the leaders of most countries backed the interests of a handful of entertainment industry companies, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev had a different view.

“The declaration reflects an absolutely conservative position that intellectual property rights should be protected according to the existing conventions,” said Medvedev.

“No one questions that, but I have repeatedly stated that, unfortunately, those conventions were written 50 or almost 100 years ago, and they are unable to regulate the whole complex of relations between the copyright owner and users.”

“Unfortunately, this was not included in the declaration because, in my opinion, my colleagues have a more conservative opinion than is necessary at the moment. Or maybe they just don’t use the Internet and have little understanding of it.”